north minneapolis

The Board of Regents voted to confirm Joan Gabel with a five-year contract as the next president of the university. Gabel visited all five campuses during the interview process and answered questions about her vision of higher education. When asked about student debt, Gabel said, “We really need to be thinking about clever ways to make sure students can afford education and I think it’s very clear that we are starting to inch up on what the marked can bear, even for students who don’t have fiscal constraints.”

While she ultimately earned high praise from stakeholders, the appointment process was not without controversy, as she was named as the sole finalist, which has drawn criticism in terms of transparency. In addition to the process, there were questions about her non-traditional background; Gabel has a JD not a PhD and she was a dean of a business school. Find out more at MNDaily. Continue Reading

Councilmember Phillipe Cunningham hosts forum, speaks out on the 2040 Plan in Minneapolis

On July 22nd, public commenting ended for the City of Minneapolis’ comprehensive plan, a document that encompasses the city’s plan of action of housing, employment, investment and other aspects of city governance. Councilmember Phillipe Cunningham held a forum to discuss the new plan and offer his perspective on how the plan could be used as an opportunity to invest in marginalized community. “I am not satisfied with the current draft of the 2040 plan because I think that the policies need to go much deeper into racial and geographic equity. There are downtown specific policies as it is an economic engine, but there are no policies that are Northside specific, from the opposite side of that, right? We need to talk about the disparities and the disinvestment,” said Cunningham. Continue Reading

Rep. Kelly Fenton (R-Woodbury) has put forth a bill that would eliminate SNAP benefits (commonly called “food stamps”) for regions that do not meet federal employment requirements. As of now, 29 counties and 12 American Indian reservations are exempt from the work requirement, and these numbers could go down with the new bill, impacting Native and rural populations most. “Jessica Webster, staff attorney with the Legal Services Advocacy Project, said the bill would be more stringent than federal law. She said the proposal gives her ‘heartache’ because 47,000 able-bodied Minnesota adults without dependents have already lost access to food since the work requirement was reinstated in 2013.”
See more information at the Session Daily. Protesters demand justice in response to police violence

Protesters gathered outside the Hennepin County Government Center in response to recent police killings nationally as well as locally, with the prosecution of Officer Mohamed Noor in the case of Justine Damond. Continue Reading

A Minneapolis City Council committee discussed plans with law enforcement and a local nonprofit to combat heightened sex trafficking during the Super Bowl LII on Jan. 18. As reported by the Minnesota Daily, the Minneapolis Police Department is using undercover operations and building relationships with the hospitality industry to combat the issue. In addition, 12 community organizations formed an Anti-Trafficking Response Committee. “We know sex trafficking occurs. Continue Reading

“We can’t keep using the bodies of youth as the only tool for resistance,” Me’Lea Connelly, executive director of the Association of Black Economic Power (ABEP) said, “we need something else.” Continue Reading

“We are still out here dying. My son still has asthma. That thing is still in our backyard,” said Felicia Perry, a fashion designer, activist, mother and North Minneapolis resident.

It’s a sentiment that could have been said by any other resident in North Minneapolis. Perry, along with her colleague and fellow activist Roxxanne O’Brien, live in the Northside’s 55411 and 55412 zip codes, an area with a population of over 70,000 people – of whom more than 70 percent are people of color. The community is home to more than a dozen schools, parks and a growing business corridor, as well as the unwelcome industrial polluter Northern Metal Recycling, situated just off of Broadway Avenue on the west side of Interstate 94. Continue Reading

This November, residents of Minneapolis’ Ward 4 will have an opportunity to elect a
representative on the Minneapolis City Council.

City Council Member Barb Johnson, a 20-year incumbent and city council president, took office after her mother. Her family has held this seat for 46 consecutive years. Johnson is arguably the most conservative member of the council, and with our weak mayoral system, holds an incredible amount of power both individually and institutionally. This November could change that. Continue Reading

The night of the grand jury decision in the 2014 Mike Brown shooting, protesters filled the streets. While watching the news, Raeisha Williams kept thinking to herself, “I wish I was out there with them.” Continue Reading

The vibe in Broadway Pizza always puts me at ease. It’s just full of real people. The waitresses actually ask questions and joke without sounding like they are reading from a script. They remind me of my mom back when she was slinging plates. The bartenders talk to folks at the bar and laugh with them. Broadway Pizza’s location in the heart of North Minneapolis was the perfect place to meet a candidate running to represent Ward 5 on the Northside: Jeremiah Ellison. Continue Reading

“Right now, we are being governed from a deficit perspective. [People say] ‘we need to be fixed, there are things that are wrong, and things are just desolate and bad.’ Whereas governing from an asset or strength-based perspective takes [our] gems and builds them up.” Continue Reading

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Today more than 2 million Americans, including around 10,000 men and women in Minnesota, are in jail or prison in the United States, the highest mass incarceration rate of any country in the world.

On Tuesday, Nov. 20, “States of Incarceration”—the first national traveling exhibit and coordinated public dialogue exploring the history and future of mass incarceration in the US—will open in the Irvine Gallery at the Minnesota History Center in St. Paul.

The States of Incarceration project was created by university students from around the country, including University of Minnesota students who researched Minnesota’s high rate of Native imprisonment, which is 12 times higher than the white population.

In the exhibit, visitors can examine how centuries of Native trauma has shaped Minnesota prison population today, including unfair treaties, forced removal by the US government, the US-Dakota War of 1862 and Dakota concentration camp at Fort Snelling, and the Indian boarding school movement.

The exhibit also contains new content created by the Minnesota History Center and local partners, exploring local stories as well as artifacts made by formerly incarcerated people. Plus, see Pine Ridge artist Quinton Maldonado’s collection of ledger drawings—an art form created in captivity by Native people—where he draws parallels between Native history and Native imprisonment today.

“Long-term imprisonment is a new phase of historic trauma, breaking up families and eroding balance,” Maldonado says in his artist statement.

“States of Incarceration” is a project of Humanities Action Lab and was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services, National Endowment for the Humanities, Whiting Foundation, Open Society Foundations and Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Local contributors to the exhibit are Oyate Hotanin, American Indian Prison Project, InEquality, American Indian Movement Interpretive Center, The Circle of Peace Movement, Calee Cecconi, and the following programs at the University of Minnesota: the Institute for Advanced Study, the Heritage Studies and Public History program, the Department of History, the Department of American Indian Studies, the School of Architecture, the College of Liberal Arts, University of Minnesota Libraries, and Liberal Arts Technologies and Innovation Services.

About the Minnesota History Center
The Minnesota History Center holds the vast collections of the Minnesota Historical Society and is home to the History Center museum with innovative exhibits, Gale Family Library, café and museum store. The History Center is located at 345 W. Kellogg Blvd. in St. Paul. For more information, visit www.minnesotahistorycenter.org.

The Minnesota Historical Society is a nonprofit educational and cultural institution established in 1849. MNHS collects, preserves and tells the story of Minnesota’s past through museum exhibits, libraries and collections, historic sites, educational programs and book publishing. Using the power of history to transform lives, MNHS preserves our past, shares our state’s stories and connects people with history. Visit us at mnhs.org.

The Minnesota Historical Society is supported in part by its Premier Partners: Xcel Energy and Explore Minnesota Tourism.

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100 Years and Counting is one of three inaugural exhibitions in the Minnesota Museum of American Art’s new facility in the Pioneer Endicott building, opening in December 2018. The exhibition features approximately 45 works from the M’s remarkable collection of American art, from 100 years ago to today.

It invites a tumble into the depth and breadth of the M’s collection: early 20th century paintings, photographs, sculptures by Paul Manship and George Morrison, incredible ink and pastel drawings, mid-century studio craft, sculpture, prints, contemporary Native American art, and up-to-the-minute recent acquisitions by outstanding American artists.

This exhibition proves the point that Minnesota Museum of American Art has been around awhile—over 100 years, in fact—and that its American art collection reflects that visual trajectory. It also shows that the new M, in this stunning new building and home, is likewise continuing to grow, to thrive, to build—indeed, counting our years and our way into a new era of significance, art, and visual engagement.

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Learn traditional Somali dances, like the Jaandheer, in a workshop led by the Somali Museum Dance Troupe. Meaning big leap or step, Jaandheer originates in northern Somalia and

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Learn traditional Somali dances, like the Jaandheer, in a workshop led by the Somali Museum Dance Troupe. Meaning big leap or step, Jaandheer originates in northern Somalia and is danced at most Somali weddings and festive occasions.

The Somali Museum Dance Troupe studies and performs traditional dances from all regions of Somalia. Comprised of teens and young adults from the greater Twin Cities area, the troupe has performed for countless corporate, private and public events across Minnesota, North Dakota, Virginia, Ohio, and Texas.

This dance workshop is appropriate for all ages and is offered in conjunction with the exhibit Somalis + Minnesota.

Support for this program has been provided by the Marney and Conley Brooks Fund.

“Learning about what happened in the Rondo community while interviewing those who witnessed their homes being destroyed was heartbreaking,” says Morris. “It was astounding the resilience they showed. It lit a fire in me. Rondo never stopped trying to rebuild what was there. It gave me a lot of confidence in myself to go after what I love to do in life. I learned that I-94 going through Rondo was a power struggle to limit what the black community could actually do. It didn’t stop us at all.”

The 30-minute film screening will immediately be followed by a Q&A with the youth filmmakers and elders from the film and Rondo community. Refreshments will be served.

Storymobile, led by director Melvin Giles and manager Darius Gray, wanted to collect and preserve the historical memory of the Rondo neighborhood from a multigenerational perspective. Storymobile worked with Rondo youth to record stories of Rondo that give an intimate view of the impact the destruction of Rondo and construction of Interstate 94 had on people’s lives and how that impact continues today.

“If we know who we are and who we came from, it helps us to go forward in our lives,” says Donna Evans in the film. “If we know nothing about our history, then how are we to know about our future?”

Saint Paul Almanac is a literary-centered arts organization that has been publishing an annual book of Saint Paul stories and poems for more than a decade. We share stories across cultures and cultivate dialogue to promote understanding, relationships, and collaborative action.

In Black Ink is a social enterprise supporting and creating a rich literary culture in the African heritage community in Minnesota.

HSRA is dedicated to providing all young people a chance to realize their full potential, despite any previous setbacks. As we engage students through music and the exploration and operation of the music business, we demonstrate that core learning areas and real-world, twenty-first century skills can be acquired at the same time. More than just earning a high school diploma, HSRA prepares students for a positive post-secondary education and life.

SPNN’s mission is to empower people to use media and communications to better lives, use authentic voice, and build common understanding.

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The East Side Freedom Library invites you to join us for part II of our celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
Labor and Black Lives Matter
Monday, January 21, 2019 at

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The East Side Freedom Library invites you to join us for part II of our celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

Labor and Black Lives MatterMonday, January 21, 2019 at 7pm

ESFL continues our exploration of the labor movement’s relationship with other social movements with a panel which will discuss the past, present, and future of the labor movement’s engagement with movements against racism. Today, the most energized of these movements is the Movement for Black Lives and its associated organizations and struggles. Our panel will include participants in these movements as well as the labor movement.

Come join the conversation!

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East Side Freedom Library, 1105 Greenbrier Street, St. Paul
Free and open to all
info@eastsidefreedomlibrary.org and 651-230-3294

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(Monday) 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm

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East Side Freedom Libraryemail info@eastsidefreedomlibrary.org or call 651-230-3294